"One should either write ruthlessly what one believes to be the truth, or else shut up." — Arthur Koestler

You might have thought he’d be a runaway winner for Andrew Sullivan’s award recognizing the most “shrill, hyperbolic, divisive and intemperate right-wing rhetoric” with this war-mongering entry:

If [the North Koreans] start anything, I say nuke ‘em. And not with just a few bombs. They’ve caused enough trouble — and it would be a useful lesson for Iran, too. We can’t afford another Korean war, but hey, we’re already dismantling warheads.”
— Instapundit, Nov. 23, 2010

Some of my friends have chided me for failing to get nominated for the Malkin Award this year, after I placed second to Glenn Beck in last year’s competition. Am I becoming . . . responsible? Are my over-the-top right-wing rants less over-the-top — or perhaps even less right-wing — than they used to be?

UPDATE: Welcome, Instapundit readers! Despite my “impishness” and link-trolling, I certainly didn’t intend to misrepresent the professor’s quote. I thought he would be flattered by the comparison to that patriotic hero, Gen. Buck Turgidson. (Yeah, I know, some critics of Dr. Strangelove don’t see Gen. Turgidson as a hero. But nuking commies — that’s real patriotism, my friend!)